Truck fire closes freeway

By Lachlan Ellis

The second truck fire in Gordon in two weeks has thankfully ended without injury, but saw part of the Western Freeway blocked for over 12 hours.

CFA was notified of the incident at 10:38 pm on Thursday 10 February, and crews arrived, along with Victoria Police, to find a B-double trailer on fire just past the on-ramp at Gordon.

“The trailer contained various flammable items. The freeway was closed in both directions for a significant amount of time,” a CFA spokesperson said.

“19 CFA vehicles attended, including tankers and support vehicles, with support also from FRV including a HAZMAT vehicle. The scene was declared under control at 01:12 [Friday morning].”

The spokesperson said the cause is believed to have been a mechanical fault.

“Crews remained on scene for several hours, before handing the scene to EPA.”

In a statement on 10 February, the Department of Transport said the Western Freeway was closed “westbound at Ballan-Daylesford Road for repairs”, with “diversions in place via Ballan-Daylesford Road and the Midland Highway adding approximately 30 minutes extra travel time”.

“Motorists are asked to obey traffic management in place. The road will re-open when it’s safe to do so,” the Department’s statement read.

At 11 am on Friday 11 February, the westbound Gordon on-ramp was still closed, while the eastbound lanes had re-opened.

Two heavy haulage vehicles were in attendance to remove the trailers whilst workers continued clearing debris from the freeway well into the Friday afternoon. The freeway was opened to all traffic around 5pm.

The fire is not being treated as suspicious.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-02-15/3

in the 15 February 2022 edition
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pick up a paper around your town.